Miracle Dog Gets Scooped Up by Eagle and Lives to Bark the Tale

Pennsylvania resident Monica Newhard experienced one of her worst nightmares this week when her brother noticed a white ball of fluff soaring into the sky. That little fluffball was her sweet dog Zoey — an eight-pound, seven-year-old Bichon Frise — who had been snatched by a passing eagle. Scary!

“It seemed like something from The Wizard of Oz,” Newhard's brother, Felipe Rodriguez, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’m a city boy. This doesn’t happen in my world.”

Rodriguez said he could barely believe his eyes and thought that he was hallucinating when an eagle swooped down and snatched his little sister's dog right out of her yard on Tuesday afternoon. But what's even more mind boggling? Little Zoey miraculously lived to bark the tale!

A Dramatic Rescue

At first, Rodriguez desperately searched the neighborhood for Zoey, to no avail. When he came home empty handed, Newhard and her family were devastated.

“I did nothing but cry all day,” Newhard said. She'd seen the eagles flying around before, but it didn't occur to her that her sweet little pooch would ever be on the menu. Heartbroken, she asked her husband to scour the nearby woods.

Then, a miracle happened: Zoey was rescued the very next day by Christina Hartman, a 51-year-old woman who just happened to be driving when she spotted a furry white lump on the road — just four miles from Newhard's house.

She wrapped the dog up in a warm blanket, took her home, and fed her two bowls of chicken-and-rice soup. “This dog belongs to a family, and I’m gonna find out who owns it,” Hartman told herself. Before long, she had found Newhard's public Facebook post about her missing pup — and after immediately recognizing Zoey, she called Newhard to give her the amazing news.

"It's a miracle! I have your dog!" Hartman told Newhard.

And as for how poor Zoey is doing today?

“She is not really herself, but she is getting lots of love,” Newhard, texted the AP late Wednesday. “She doesn’t want to go out... I really can’t blame her.”

We can't either! We're so relieved sweet Zoey is back home safely though.